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Maiolica two-handled vase
Potter: Unknown
Buff earthenware, tin-glazed on the exterior and interior. Painted in dark blue, orange, and a little pale green.
The vase stands on a circular spreading foot, rising into a short stem with an annulet in the middle. Just beyond the junction of the stem and body is a circular rib. The lower part of the vase is hemispherical, and it then rises vertically to the shoulder. The neck expands towards the carinated rim, and has on each side a handle which scrolls inwards at the top and outwards at the bottom.
On each side of the neck is a garland of leaves and berries, one enclosing a bust of a youth, the other a bust of a girl, both in profile to right and flanked by formal plants on a dotted background. Below the shoulder are horizontal bands of formal leaves and geometrical ornament. The top of the foot is encircled by a garland of leaves and berries on a dotted ground, and the edge by a border of lozenges. The handles are decorated with lozenges and horizontal stripes.
History note: Dr Alfred Pringsheim; Sotheby's, 7 June 1939, Catalogue of the renowned collection of Italian majolica, the property of Dr Alfred Pringsheim of Munich (1850-1941), lot 22.
Purchased with the Glaisher Fund
Height: 23.5 cm
Method of acquisition: Bought (1939-06-07) by Sotheby's
15th Century, Late
16th Century, Early
Renaissance
Circa
1490
CE
-
1520
CE
This charming vase was attributed to Siena by Falke and Chompret, and was reattri¬buted to Deruta by Bernard Rackham (1876-1964), Keeper of Ceramics at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Two-handled vases were being made in Deruta by at least 1491 when one labelled `DERVTA' was depicted in an illumi¬nated letter at the begin¬ning of the Deruta catasto (tax record).
Decoration
composed of
high-temperature colours
( dark blue, orange, and a little pale green)
Foot
Diameter 10.3 cm
Rim
Diameter 11 cm
Across Handles
Width 21 cm
Body
Accession number: EC.21-1939
Primary reference Number: 78823
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Maiolica two-handled vase" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/78823 Accessed: 2025-07-12 17:44:18
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/78823
|title=Maiolica two-handled vase
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-07-12 17:44:18|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-78823
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
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<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Maiolica two-handled vase</figcaption>
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